


Winter Blues

by orochiis



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Christmas, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 20:04:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13220211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orochiis/pseuds/orochiis
Summary: This is a losing battle, and he knows it.





	Winter Blues

**Author's Note:**

> if anyone comments on this to tell me they dont have christmas in fire emblem im gonna find them and kill them thanks enjoy! ;0

Snow dusts the grounds of Castle Krakenburg, and within a number of hours, the once pristine lawn is covered in a blanket of white. The castle itself also gets a covering of snow, and from her bedroom window, Corrin sighs wistfully, admiring the sight. It’s her first Christmas spent with her family here- the first winter since the war is over. Of course, the situation is a little bittersweet, with it also being the first year without Garon there.   
  
Corrin tears herself away from the window and rushes downstairs, pushing past servants hurriedly decorating the castle for the upcoming holiday. She makes her way into the garden, running across the snow covered grass to a slightly more secluded spot that she often frequented. She throws herself down on the snow, and tries desperately to remember the instructions that Elise gave her on enjoying the snow before. She experimentally moves her arms and legs, and the snow moves around her to form an angel shape in the ground. It’s slightly unsatisfactory, however, since she’s not sure how to make one properly. The princess gets up from the ground and admires her handiwork, questioning whether or not she did it right.

“Are you not cold?” A voice calls out from behind her, and she whips round to see Leo, wrapped up in a large coat, with a colourful scarf adorning his neck. Corrin suspects that the scarf is Camilla’s doing, but doesn’t open her mouth. In his hand, he holds another coat, navy, with gold buttons on the front.

“Not particularly.”  
  
“Put this on anyway.” He holds the coat out towards her- she never really considered that the garment could be for her. “Why are you even out here? It took me a long time to find you.”  
  
“Leo, do you know how to make snow angels?” Corrin asks, completely ignoring Leo’s question. “Because Elise told me how, but I’m not sure I did it right.”  
  
“Of course I know,” Leo scoffs, tightening his scarf.  
  
“Will you show me, then?” Corrin asks.

“Your angel looks fine to me,” he excuses.   
  
“Please?”

“Ugh. You’re so persistent.” He complains, yet he lies down on the ground, showing Corrin how to effectively make a snow angel. His face is unmoving, and it’s only when Corrin lies beside him to make a snow angel of her own that his face changes.

“Am I doing it right?”   
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Good! Now I can show Elise.” She rolls over on her side to face him, a big smile on her face. “Thank you, Leo. You’re such a big help.” She scrambles up from the ground, brushing the snow off her coat before giving him a cheery wave and heading back inside. He doesn’t move, apart from to put his gloved hands over his face to hide how red it has become.  


* * *

Leo spots her later; this time voluntarily wrapped a little warmer. The first thing he notes is that her feet are covered by multicoloured knitted socks, and the second is that she is carrying a pile of presents so high that she can’t see over them. One of them topples over the top, and he hurries forward to catch it before it hits the ground. The label reads that it’s for Felicia, and he sets it under the tree as she makes her way over with the other presents.  
  
“Thank you again, Leo. You really are a lifesaver today!”  
  
“No problem. I like your socks,” he says with a smirk, causing her to pull a face.   
  
“Xander made me wear them. He says I’ll get frostbite if I don’t.”

“He’s right. We would be a bad army if our commander lost her feet.”  
  
“We’re not at war, though, so there’s no need to worry. I’d... rather not lose my feet though. That wouldn’t really happen, would it?”  
  
“It might. But those socks look warm, so you’ll probably be okay.”

“Oh, good. Talking about warm, perhaps you’d like to join me for hot chocolate? Jakob is making me some at the minute, and I’m sure there’d be enough for you too!”   
  
“Perhaps another time. I’m a little busy at the moment. I was on my way to the library to do some reading.”  
  
“We can bring it up to you! I’m sure the library is cold, and I can get caught up on some of my tactics lessons too,” she says with a wink, and he sighs, averting his gaze from her. This is a losing battle, and he knows it.  
  
“Fine. I’ll go on ahead. You bring up the drinks when they’re ready.”  
  
“See you soon, Leo.”

She scampers off in the direction of the kitchens, leaving Leo in the entrance way of the castle on his own.

* * *

It wasn’t that Leo hated Corrin’s company- quite the opposite. But the torture she unknowingly put him through by consistently seeking out his presence was beginning to be too much for him. It was a constant reminder that they would never be together in the way he desired- she would forever see him as a younger brother. Ever since his early teen years, he had found her beautiful, intriguing, and as much as he had tried to repress those feelings, they just kept coming back, stronger and more determined to stay. Corrin had wormed her way into his heart, and her interest in spending so much time with him over the holidays was beginning to become a little painful.  
  
“Here we go!” She sings, setting a tray of hot chocolate and biscuits down on the table in front of him. He’s pulled out of his stupor by her voice, and follows her with his eyes as she sits in front of him. “I thought you were reading? Did you forget your books?” She teases, and he rolls his eyes.

“I thought _you_ said you were going to go over your tactics lessons? Though I told you before, I don’t think there’s anything else I can teach you. It’s just a matter of practice now.”  
  
“Well, maybe we could practice.”  
  
“I’m not really in the mood.”  
  
“Chess, then?” She suggests, and the look on her face makes him give in. With a dejected sigh and a nod, she gets up to find the chessboard- stashed away in the library due to the fact that the two often end up here late at night playing multiple games. Leo always wins, of course, but Corrin’s determination to win amuses him, and so he humours her. Once or twice, she has fallen asleep, and he has had to carry her back to her room.

“What are you smiling about?” She asks, arriving back with the board and beginning to set it up.  
  
“I was just remembering the times you fell asleep when we were playing and I had to carry you back to your room.”  
  
“It... it was you that carried me back? I always assumed it was Jakob.”  
  
“Do you truly think I’m so heartless as to leave you in here to freeze to death overnight?” He asks bitterly, lifting his mug to cover his smile.

“Of course not! It just surprised me a little that it was you.”

“Let’s just play, okay?”

* * *

Leo wakes up on Christmas morning with a sense of dread settled in his stomach. It’s far too early for anyone else to be awake, so he uses this to his advantage and gets up. Dressed in the Christmas outfit that Xander insists they wear each year and with his long coat keeping the heat in, he makes his way out into the garden. It’s still dark- as it usually is in Nohr- and the snow makes the silence even more ominous. He stands still on the patio, taking a few deep breaths. Much to his disappointment, a laugh comes from behind him. He would recognise that laugh anywhere, and chooses not to move in the hopes that his tormenter will go away.

“Why are you up so early, milord?”  
  
“I could ask the same of you, Niles.”  
  
“I’m supposed to be up early. Protecting you, and all that.”

“Ah.”

“Couldn’t sleep?” Niles persists, moving from his position against the stone wall to stand facing his liege.

“Something like that.”  
  
“You’ve clearly got something on your mind, if you don’t mind me saying.”

“I do mind, thank you very much.” Leo moves off from his standing position, lifting the candle from the porch and making his way down the path, footsteps destroying the perfect white.

“Where do you think you’re going? It’s half past five in the morning!” Niles calls after him, and after a moment Leo hears his retainer running after him.

“For a walk.”  
  
“What’s wrong? I’m not letting you ruin the holidays for everyone else with that face.”  
  
“I’m not telling you, that’s for sure.”  
  
“Oh well that definitely narrows it down,” Niles laughs, slapping Leo heartily on the back.

“Leave me be, Niles.”  
  
“As long as you promise to be in for seven. That’s when everyone else is getting up.”  
  
“I will, don’t worry.”  
  
With that, Niles disappears, leaving Leo alone with his laurels in the dark expanse of the garden.

* * *

True to his word, Leo drags himself back inside as he hears the bells ring for seven. He won’t admit it, but walking around outside for an hour and a half has chilled him to the bone. Wandering into the entrance hall to get rid of his cloak, he sighs at the sight of the rest of the family, wearing their matching outfits, gathered around the tree. Elise dashes up from her seat to wrap her arms around him in her usual excitable way, the rest of the family following her lead.  
  
“Merry Christmas, big brother Leo!”

“Thank you, Elise,” he answers, managing a smile as he sheds his coat and joins them by the tree, Elise sitting him down between Corrin and herself. A present from Camilla is thrust into his lap first, and his older sister watches in glee as they unwrap matching Christmas jumpers, hand knitted by herself over the previous few weeks. Leo begrudgingly puts his jumper on- bright red, the same colour as the tinsel on the tree. Elise’s is a soft pink, Camilla already wearing her one- a deep purple. Corrin’s is light blue, and Xander sports a black one, which Camilla claims that she picked because she ran out of ideas.

Elise’s presents to her siblings are also handmade- chocolates that she made with help from her retainers, who put in an appearance to wish the royals a merry Christmas. Leo hands across perfectly wrapped books to everyone, in genres selected that he knew his siblings would actually read and enjoy. Xander’s is a lighthearted historical romance that Leo knows he is secretly into, and the man shoves it back in the wrapping before Camilla can ask him what he got. Elise’s is illustrated fairy tales- Elise doesn’t like to read, but the pictures will be appreciated. Corrin gets myths from a land far away- Valentia, the book calls it. Camilla also gets a romance novel- some futuristic thing that Leo barely even skimmed.

The presents from Xander are the most extravagant. Elise gets golden hair slides with sparkling stones on the end of them. Camilla gets a necklace with dangling diamonds, and Leo a new watch, with the date inside the watch face and tiny pearls on the hands. Leo’s breath hitches when Corrin’s present is a tiny box- and he sighs in relief when it’s a pair of ear decorations, and she slides them onto her pointed ears with a smile- it was thoughtful of him, she exclaims.

“I wanted to buy presents that I thought suited all of you, since this is my first Christmas here,” Corrin explains sheepishly, reaching under the tree to scoop up four more presents. She dishes them out, Leo sitting with a heavy package he assumed was a book on his lap. He carefully undoes the paper, and staring at him is the much coveted history of Renais textbook that he has been admiring for so long, yet has never got round to purchasing for himself. He looks at her in shock- he never mentioned the book to her, yet somehow she still knew to get it for him. She smiles softly at him, and he feels his heart surge with affection for the girl. When she turns her attention to Elise, he only thinks about how bad he has it.

* * *

He manages to avoid her presence when he’s on his own for the rest of the week- every time he sees her it’s either with all his family or at least Niles or Odin. One occasion, she comes to pester him in the library on her own, but Jakob joins them mere minutes after her appearance to take her away to get ready for the New Year party. Leo has always hated the New Year party- it was exceptionally boring, and he had this opinion from a young age. While it was easier for him to stay awake until the end of the night now, he still found himself dreading the hours leading up to the countdown. With dignitaries from around the country joining them tonight, he supposed he would at least have something to talk about.

Xander personally comes to collect him from his room- he knows his younger too well. Without someone to physically bring him there, the introverted second prince would likely not put in an appearance at the party. He’s wearing his suit- a most uncomfortable one to- and Xander wears a not too dissimilar outfit. The girls are already at the party, he’s told, and he has to avoid eye contact with his elder brother when he starts describing their clothes. His face feels warm at even the mention of his supposed sister, and even though he knows his feelings should be valid, a great deal of shame overtakes him.

* * *

Corrin’s experience with the New Year’s party is vastly different. Camilla appears with a long dress that makes her eyes light up with excitement. Most of this joy came from the fact that she matched with both of her sisters- Elise sitting beside her elder sisters in her pink knee length dress and Camilla in her signature purple. They look handmade, though Corrin doesn’t dare ask where the oldest Nohrian princess procured the party dresses. Corrin’s own dress is black, and when examined closely, it almost sparkles. Camilla has spared no expense- the middle princess has gems encrusted around the collar, while the other two are plain.

“You are the star of the show,” Camilla explains, braiding Corrin’s unruly hair to the said, laying the thick plat on one shoulder and sticking star shaped pins in it.

“How so?”  
  
“It’s the first time since Xander’s coronation that you’ll be in the public eye. People are desperate to see the Saviour of Nohr.” She rolls her eyes at the last bit, and Corrin laughs, knowing that her family finds the public’s title for her just as ridiculous as she does.

“So you have to look _super_ pretty,” Elise explains all matter-of-fact. “Perhaps you’ll even find a suitor!”

“I doubt that, Elise,” Corrin laughs, brushing off the younger girl’s suggestion.

“Do you have your eye on anyone, big sister? Do you? Do you?”  
  
“N-no!” Corrin says, although her face betrays her and her cheeks flush a similar red to her eyes.   
  
“You do!” Elise squeals in delight. She clasps her hands together, eyes almost sparkling. Camilla sighs and pulls a now pouting Elise from her chair.

“Leave Corrin alone. It’s time to head down to the party anyway.”

The trio of sisters make their way down the staircase with Camilla leading and the two younger girls behind her. A hundred heads turned in their direction as they walk down the marble staircase and into the grand hall. Camilla’s head is held high, confidence exuding from every pore of her body. Elise smiles from ear to ear, holding out the corners of her dress. Corrin wrings her hands together, knowing she’s not suited for such an occasion.

They meet with Leo and Xander in the hall, already there, also dressed to the nines for the occasion. Xander, with his crown newly polished, is already speaking with Hinoka, who has come from Hoshido especially for the occasion. Sakura too is there, conversing with Leo, who looks entirely disinterested in what she has to say. When the Nohrian Princesses arrive, the party begins, and the orchestra strikes up a dance tune so familiar to everyone. The dancing begins in earnest, and Corrin can only look on in wonder, not knowing the steps to join in herself.

Xander is also exempt from dancing, and instead leads Corrin around the room to meet with various nobles who are all vying for her attention. She can barely hold a conversation, however, too busy admiring the intricate patterns that the dancers- including her sisters and unwilling younger brother- trace on the ballroom floor. She longs to join in, but without a partner or any knowledge of the steps, she is sidelined. Xander too is eventually dragged into the dance, and she only spots Hoshidans around the outside of the room. There is only so long she can bear to talk with Hinoka or Sakura- the pain of Takumi and Ryoma’s deaths is still too raw for all of them. Guilt hits her like a train when Sakura looks at her with those big eyes, and eventually Corrin excuses herself to the gardens, still covered in snow.

There is a little section of the garden that is raised- a platform of sorts, with stone steps leading up to it and stone railings surrounding it. She leans against the railings and looks over the garden, sighing quietly to herself. It is only tonight that she feels so out of place. The rest of the holiday season has been fun- but when she thinks about it, she already knows those traditions as she participated in them in the Northern Fortress, albeit on a smaller scale. But when there are other people involved, she fails, and she panics, and she runs away, just when people wanted to see her most.

As she manages to steady her breathing, the door from the ballroom opens, the chatter from inside the hall made louder for just a second. Corrin whips round to see who is there, coming face to face with Leo, who looks just as shocked as she feels to see him out here. He turns to leave, and in an instant she is by his side, hand clasping onto his arm. She barely registers walking down the stairs, and looks him in the eyes, wondering what part of her was so desperate to be beside him.

“Don’t go,” she pleads, and within seconds she’s retreated back to where she stood before. To her surprise, there’s a crunching sound from behind her as Leo makes his way up the steps and stands a good distance away from her on the platform.

“Why are you out here? I thought you’d be enjoying the party?” He asks, a hint of condescension in his voice.

“Why are _you_ out here?” She counters. “You’ve been running away from me the last two weeks.”  
  
“Being around you is hard,” he answers, avoiding looking at her.

“Gee, thanks. I’m so glad to know that you’re so open with your feelings,” Corrin huffs, crossing her arms and beginning to move away from him.

“Not like that!” Leo calls, voice a little too harsh for her ears. She winces, and turns back to him with sad eyes.

“Then like what?” She asks quietly, and he takes a deep breath, knowing that he’s dug himself a hole there is no way he can escape from.   
  
“Spending time with you is torturous, because I care for you in a way I shouldn’t, and I know that you will never care for me in the same way, because why would you? It would be ridiculous,” he scoffs.

“And that is why you run away from me when I try to spend time with you?”

  
“Exactly.”  
  
“Oh, Leo,” she laughs. “Why do you think I am so insistent to spend time with you?”  
  
“I... I just thought it was out of the goodness of your heart... it is in your personality.”  
  
“No, no. I want to spend time with you because I’ve liked you for a long time, and I hoped... well, I hoped eventually you’d return my feelings.”  
  
“I didn’t know... all this time, you’ve-“  
  
“Been in love with you.”  
  
She’s smiling now, eyes sparkling, and Leo feels out of breath, not knowing what to do with this revelation. He can only stare at her, dumbfounded, eyes flitting between her and the door to the ballroom. The longer he doesn’t say anything, the quieter her smile becomes, turning into a worried face as she takes a sizeable step back.   
  
“Perhaps I misread the situation,” she laughs sheepishly.   
  
“No!” Leo says, taking a number of steps towards her to bridge the gap. “No. I’m just shocked, that’s all. I didn’t expect you to say something like this, and it surprises me that you’d say such a thing, because, dearest Corrin, I have been in love with you for as long as I can remember.”

She takes a step towards him and cautiously wraps her arms around him, pulling him into a tight embrace. He reciprocates her actions, and she rests her head on his shoulder with a contented sigh. Inside the ballroom, everyone gathers at one end, and the countdown to the New Year’s Day begins. Leo glances at his watch behind Corrin’s head, and she pulls away from him, smiling as she whispers at him.   
  
“Five.”

“Four,” he says next.

“Three.”  
  
“Two.”

“One.”

A cry of ‘happy new year’ resonates from inside the ballroom, and at the same time, Leo bends down and presses his lips to Corrin’s, closing his eyes as she places her hands on his chest. One arm wrapped around her waist, he pulls her closer to him, taking this opportunity to profess his love to her. She pulls away from him when the ballroom door opens and more people venture into the garden. His face is flushed red, and she can only laugh at him, holding his face between her hands and placing another quick, gentle kiss to his lips.

“I love you so much,” he whispers, holding both of her hands. “For so long, I’ve had to pretend to be your brother, but now...”  
  
“Now we can be something else. Something so much more,” she smiles, and pulls him in towards her again, watching the sky as it lights up with a thousand sparkling spells.


End file.
